The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1887-11-30

Il threw in another small shovel O
coal and tried to shut the furnac,
door. Ziel sprang from his box, an,
grabbing the shovel tossed in two o
three bushels more. Then he caueh
up the sledge-hammer and hung it OF
the safety-valve. My worst fears wer,
realized. l knew that he was mad
We plunged more rapidly than eve1
into the darkness. The maniac at TIL.
throttle craned his head from the cal
window. As he drew it back he nut.
tered several times: We'll keep hea
warm, poor thing; oh, yes, we'll keep
her warm; depend on that"
He seemed to ignore my presence
entirely. Again he got down and
heaped more coal into the furnace.
Then as he sat down he pulled the
throttle wide open. The engine leaped
ahead with furious bound. She
swayed from side to side like drunken
man, and the rig ratified as if palsy
stricken. Away we went like creatures
borne on the back of a demon.
"Once more Ziel got down and
heaped in coal. The engine fairly
snorled as she lurched forward. now
careening over the uncaven track,
now righting herself again and' gain
ing fresh impetus with every inch. On
and on she rushed into the midnight.
Faster and faster she flew-headlon
over bridges, tearing around curves,
plunging down grades. whizzing past
stations, whose red and green lights
glared at us an instant like the eyes of
kindred demons, and the next instant
were buried again in the black gulf;
dashing over crossings and over roads,
on and still on VIC went with the swift
ness of a whirlwind.
II knew that there was a freight
not many miles ahead. In few
minutes we would inevitably dash in
to it, and not q mothers son on either
train could be saved. The thought
came upon me with such an appalling
rush that involuntarily reached out
to blow the whistle. With catlike
quickness Ziel struck my hand down,
and fell over in a heap on my box.
The machine was rocking and tum-
bling about more wildly than ever.
The conductor evidently knew that
something was wrong for he rang
several times to stop. The maniac en-.
gineer only laughed, and. tearing the
bell from the roof, flung it through
the window. 1 grew frantic. Ziel
yelled to me to throw in more coal.
A moment later he cried: Ohio! see,
l see! Warm her up Bob, warm her
up! | see what's robbing her of all her
heat. I'll fix that all right. I'll fix
that you bet!
Before l could stop him he had
dashed through the front door of the
cab. The next instant the headlight
flashed out-we were rushing along
into utter darkness. B ut 1 snatched
my opportunity, terrified as 1 was. I
grasped the whistle valve and began
to blow the alarm. It's first hoarse
below brought back the maniac on a
jump. l crouched as he sprang for
me. and picking up the monkey
wrench, struck at him. The blow fell
on his breast 1t half staggered him,
but he rushed at me again.
Just at that instant the baggage
car door opened and I heard shout
and saw men standing in the light.
Ziel halted as the glare fell upon his
face-such hideous face as l never
saw before, and pray heaven l may
never see again. Then he turned sud-
denly and made another plunge in my
direction. I was too quick for him this
time. The monkey wrench fell quare
on his head. He dropped back into
the coal box like bag of sand.
Il sprang to the valve, snatched off
the sledge, turned on the air-brakes,
and reversed her in way that
knocked half the seats in the passenger
cars over, and threw nearly every body
in the sleepers from their berths. We
were just rounding a curve and I caught
sight of the tail lights of the freight
it seemed to me within touching dis
lance. 1 turned half around to jump
from the cab and saw that Franklin's
body was not in the coal box-and
then fell in a swoon.
Il was told afterwards that Franklin
had been found walking on the track
behind the train. and, Incredible as it
may seem, this was the fact. The
train had stopped with the engine
pilot not three feet from the caboose
of the freight. The sudden
jar must have thrown off Ziel,
who had apparently only been stunned
after all by my blow. He had fear
full cash in his head, but seemed to be
as rational as any human being could
be when he got up to where the train
halted. B ut he could not remember a
single incident of that fearful night.
Drunk? No, sir; he wasn't drunk;
hadn't touched liquor for months. De-
tectives looked into that and traced
all his movements for days before that
wild experience. Franklin was taken
down with brain fever after ward. how
ever, but he recovered. Some years
ago he became conductor on the New
York, New Haven e. Hartford road.
He finally retired. and bought himself
a cozy home in Milford, Conn. There
was no return of any brain trouble